


Traitor!

by rexlover180



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Trans Character, Trans Lance, trans keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:29:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexlover180/pseuds/rexlover180
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CURRENTLY ON HAITUS!<br/>When Shiro went missing during the Kerberos Mission, Keith couldn't just sit around and wait for him to come back, so he took matters into his own hands. For years, he went missing, while Lance, Pidge, and Hunk graduated from the garrison. Meanwhile, the Galra Empire continued to expand through the universe and Earth's military wound up involving itself in the intergalactic war. On a transport mission, Lance takes a detour and manages to get his team captured by the Galra and many of the Galra secrets start coming to light. Starting with the appearance of Shiro and Keith and ending with finding the super weapon Voltron, will their hastily put together team manage to be defenders of the universe?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Facing the Enemy

“I told you this was a bad idea!”

“I know.”

“What do you think they’re gonna do to us? Maybe they’ll use us for experiments or maybe they’ll just kill us on the spot!”

“You’re seriously not helping, Hunk.”

“What should we do? Should we get our guns and hope they’re enough? Or should we just surrender right away and hope they don’t try to kill us immediately, too?”

Lance gritted his teeth as he tried to grip onto the levers of the ship as tightly as he could. They were stuck in a beam that was dragging them slowly towards the Galra ship that honestly looked way bigger up close than it did a few minutes ago when he thought this was a good idea. This was bad. They had maybe a few minutes before they were taken in and there was no way to wrestle out of this grip. He looked back at his crew, the people he’d been through years of flight school with. Both Pidge and Hunk stared at him with wide eyes. They were all just as terrified as he was. But there was only one way Lance was gonna let this end. They would go down fighting, just like all the other lost pilots in this war. Just like Shiro, the first one to be lost.

“We’re getting out our guns,” Lance said seriously before abandoning his seat and going to the storage at the back of their ship. They were equipped enough to last a few days in space before making a pit stop back on Earth. It was Lance’s stupid idea to break formation at the sight of a “small” Galra ship, thinking that they could take it down easily in their fighter jet and get some useful information. This was his fault, but he was going to help his team make it as far as they could.

“You know no one’s actually been inside a Galra ship and made it out to tell the tale, right?” Hunk asked hesitantly as Lance shoved a rifle into his hands.

“We might just be the first, if we do this right,” Lance said. He glanced out the front window of the ship, thinking of how much time they had left before they were boarded. He shoved another rifle at Pidge before picking up his own. “Pidge, were you able to pick up any of their signals during any of this?”

“Nothing that won’t take a while to translate,” Pidge said, shaking their head. “Even with Hunk’s new algorithm, it would take a few minutes, minimum.”

“Damn,” Lance muttered under his breath. “Alright, let’s get into position in front of the door. We need to be faster than them, so be ready to shoot the second anything moves.”

“We don’t even know if these guns will work against the Galra,” Hunk said, but he did stand in front of the door. Lance stood directly in the middle, staring down the sight and right at the door. There wasn’t a lot known about the biology of the Galra, but he could guess that whoever greeted them would be a good foot or so taller than him and with a lot of muscle mass. No one had been able to try out these guns on them, but they were the strongest the military had to offer, so they had to make do.

“So what happens if we make it past the boarding crew?” Pidge asked. The ship stopped moving and Lance hopped between his feet, ready to run when he had to. He took a deep breath to center himself.

“We run,” Lance said. “If we’re lucky, their ships aren’t hard to figure out. Do you think you could hack them?”

“I’ll do my best.” Pidge nodded.

There were sounds beyond the door and everyone tensed. A lot of creaking metal as they figured out how to open the door. Lance’s finger twitched over the trigger of his gun, ready to shoot the second he saw anything, Galra or not.

After that, everything happened too fast for him to register. The door was ripped off the ship and all three humans fired. Lance remembered seeing purple. A lot of purple. Then there was a lot of pain, in his stomach, his shoulder, his chest, his stomach again. Everything went black around him and he thought he might have fallen, but he didn’t feel any of that.

When he opened his eyes next, he was kneeling, something tight around his wrists holding them together behind his back. He felt dizzy, nauseous, and in a lot of pain. He could hear some talking around him, but it wasn’t clear. Like gibberish. He looked up slowly and saw an incredibly tall figure in front of him. It was a Galra soldier, probably a leader of some kind. He had ears about the size of his head and a robotic arm about the size of Pidge. He was talking to another guy on a screen…someone Lance couldn’t see very clearly yet. He glanced to one side and saw Pidge kneeling beside him, eyes closed and hands tied. He looked to the other side, seeing Hunk in the same position. He could tell that they had robotic sentries standing behind them, blasters pointed at their backs. Everyone had seen plenty of those guys, they were pretty easy to defeat on their own. But now? As he was forced to kneel in front of an alien conqueror, they just might be one of the most terrifying things Lance had ever seen.

“-only a few hours before we have the information we need.” Now Lance could clearly hear the Galra in front of him and the turned all of his attention towards him.

“Are you sure they’ll be worth the effort?” the Galra in the screen asked simply. Lance narrowed his eyes to look more closely at him. He was purple, like the rest of them, but his eyes were practically glowing. And he had a wicked scar going down his left eye. He looked like a big shot, even bigger than the one in front of him.

“The ship they piloted was fighter class. At the very least, they’ll have plans and formations to share. If we have nothing by the end of the day I’ll send them with the rest of the prisoners.”

Pidge groaned quietly beside him and Lance abandoned trying to make sense of the conversation in front of him to look at his teammate. Pidge was shaking their head slowly, slowly blinking their eyes. But they looked alright, no permanent damage. It only took a few seconds before Pidge fully opened their eyes wide, looking around in a panic. Lance met their eyes, hoping to communicate to stay calm. Any sudden moves just might kill them. They were being kept alive for a reason. They wanted to find out plans. Well, Lance would just have to make sure they didn’t get any.

Lance only turned his attention back to the two in front of him when he heard two words that he’d only heard of through Pidge’s hacks and translations.

“ _Vrepit sa._ ”

“ _Vrepit sa_.”

Lance swallowed thickly as the screen shut off and the Galra in front of him turned around to face him. He looked right into his eyes…well, eye. On the same side as his robotic arm, he had something replacing an eye, like a monocle of some kind.

“I see you’re already awake,” the Galra said simply, looking at him with disgust and Lance tried to mirror with his own glare. “I’ll admit the resilience of you humans is something to be admired.”

“Gee, thanks,” Lance said, his voice hoarse and croaking. What had they hit him with that made him feel so groggy? “I’ll be sure to put that on my resume.”

“Silence,” the Galra ordered, producing a small rod from the holster around his waist. Lance didn’t know what it was, but it put him on edge. “You’ll speak when spoken to.”

“I’ve always been told I never know when to shut up, so good luck on that one,” Lance said, trying to keep up his confidence for as long as he could. Turned out that wouldn’t be very long at all. The Galra raised the rod in the air and Lance’s eyes widened at the sight of electric sparks coming from the thing. The Galra struck him in the stomach and Lance cried out at the searing pain that shot through his entire body. Even after the rod was far away from him, Lance felt some of the aftershocks, twitching slightly as his breath caught.

“Lance!” Pidge shouted.

More static and Lance looked up in horror as Pidge was struck as well. They slumped as the Galra took a few steps back and Lance glared at him with everything he had.

“Now, you will comply,” the Galra said. “Have I made myself clear?”

“As crystal,” Lance said through clenched teeth.

“Tell me everything you know about your military.”

Lance stayed silent and the Galra only waited a few seconds before hitting him again with the rod. Lance blacked out for a second from the pain, panting as he slowly came back to reality.

“I’m not afraid to kill you,” the Galra said harshly. “Your military might be annoying, but they are no more than pests to be squashed.”

“Then you really don’t need my help,” Lance said. This time, he was struck on the head and he really did pass out.

Waking up again, Lance found himself lying on the floor. He sat upright quickly, finding that his wrists were no longer restrained.

“Lance!” Pidge shouted, kneeling in front of him. Hunk followed right behind and Lance was happy to see that they only had a few bruises on them. “I was almost afraid you wouldn’t wake up.”

“I’m okay,” Lance said carefully. He hurt all over and he felt some clear burns on his stomach and chest where he was struck. He looked down at the shirt and jacket the military had given him, frowning at the sight of the tattered cloth. Thankfully, the sports bra he kept on for long missions was still intact.

“Pidge told me what happened,” Hunk said. “I don’t think the best way of fighting this is by telling them nothing.”

“Well, I’m not gonna tell them anything,” Lance protested. He looked around the room, finding that it was small, big enough for maybe six people to sit in comfortably. But they were alone. And there was one door, but there wasn’t even a handle or a window on it, just an imprint of where it would open.

“There’s a chance they might keep us alive,” Pidge said. “When they were taking us here, I was still conscious. They have other prisoners, all different kinds of aliens. It looks like they’re being stored to be moved somewhere else.”

“When he was talking with that other guy on the screen,” Lance mused, “he said something about us going with the prisoners at the end of the day if they couldn’t any information out of us. So that means we just have to make it through the day.”

“Unless they kill us first,” Hunk said. “I mean, look what they already did to you! There’s no telling what other kind of torture they’ll try on us!”

“How long was I out?” Lance asked.

“Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes?” Pidge offered. “They said something about coming back soon after they shoved us in here. Hunk’s only been awake for a few minutes.”

“Well, we’re not gonna give them any information,” Lance said pointedly. “Nothing, okay? We were trained better than this. If there’s a chance they’ll keep us alive, we can think of an escape plan wherever they wind up taking us. As long as we’re alive, we’ll find a way out.” He slowly stood up, wincing at the pain in his stomach, but he could handle it. The others stood up with him and he studied the door carefully, wondering when they would be brought back again.

“I don’t know if I can stand up all that well to torture,” Hunk offered. “I mean, going through boot camp and dealing with Iverson is one thing. But this? Lance, you’re seriously hurt. I might just say something to stop you from getting hurt anymore.”

“I can handle this,” Lance assured him. “We all can. If we tell them anything about our troop locations, our bases, anything, countless people are going to die. From what we can tell, there’s no one else in the universe trying to stop these guys. Earth might just be the only thing keeping the Galra Empire from taking over the universe. We can’t just let that go over some torture. Alright?”

“Yeah,” Pidge said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Hunk said. “Just…try not to do something stupid and get more hurt than you have to.”

“We’ll see,” Lance said with a small smile. But it fell the second he heard the door opening. Immediately, all of their attention focused on the opening. Lance was ready to see a member of the Galra or maybe one of those sentries, but instead, he saw something he never would have expected to see. Or, rather, some _one_.

Lance’s jaw dropped at the sight of someone who had gone missing…years ago. The best pilot of their generation, who took Shiro’s disappearance harder than anyone else, who left the garrison due to “discipline issues”, Keith…was standing literally right in front of him. He was dressed like any other Galra soldier and his expression was stern…but he looked almost identical to the last day Lance had seen him. The years hadn't done much to him, but he did definitely look older.

“ _Keith?_ ” Lance asked as Keith looked inside the cell.

“Come with me,” Keith said bluntly, not even looking at any of them very closely.

“Keith,” Lance said stepping forward. “It’s me, Lance. You know, from back on Earth? In the garrison?”

Keith’s eyes only glanced at Lance for maybe a second before he looked at the robotic sentries standing beside him. All it took was a nod and the sentries marched inside, forcefully turning Lance around and clamping something tight around his wrists behind his back. Lance winced as he was pulled roughly out of the cell, Keith closing the door with Hunk and Pidge left behind.

“Keith, c’mon, it’s me,” Lance pleaded, looking around the sentry and sending a pleading look towards Keith. “What happened to you? How did you even get here?” Keith started walking without a word and Lance was forced to follow him, stumbling over his own feet. “Keith! Listen to me for once, you idiot!”

“Save your breath for Sendak,” Keith said simply, never once looking back. Lance’s eyes went wide at the brutal treatment, but he refused to give up.

“Don’t tell me the best pilot of our generation just went willingly with the Galra Empire,” Lance said. “When I heard you dropped out, I thought it might have had something to do with Shiro going missing. What are you doing here?”

Keith faltered for half a second. Not much, but more than enough for Lance to take notice. That was something. Shiro. Did this have something to do with his death? What did Keith find out? Lance didn’t have any more time to ask questions before they reached a door that opened to Keith’s hand. Inside was what looked like some kind of control room, with a lot of Galra at work stations and, in the center, was who Lance could only guess was Sendak. Lance braced himself for the torture he knew was coming. Maybe if he was lucky, he would just pass out again, but something told him that these people were better at torture than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand welcome to my new story! I’m trying my hand at Voltron fics for a while now because I just absolutely love the show and the fandom so far. Anyway, this is an AU I put a lot of thought into and I’m pretty stoked about. The plot in general, once they get to the first lion, will probably mirror the plot of the series, just with the time skip and certain plot devices added in to change things up. I don’t know what I’ll do once I get to where the series ended, but we’ll find out when we get there. For now, take this and hopefully I’ll be able to update soon. We’ll be seeing Shiro and at least one lion next!
> 
> Preview:  
> “Don’t move,” Lance ordered. Keith actually stayed still for a grand total of two seconds before charging. Lance’s finger twitched over the trigger, but he didn’t pull it. He couldn’t do it. Not Keith. Not another human. Keith gripped hard onto Lance’s gun, shoving him into the wall behind him. Lance cried out at the added pain, but kept his own grip. He moved to slam his head into Keith’s and the second their heads made contact, Lance was overwhelmed with another vision. The hallways again. He had to go down the hallways. With Keith.


	2. The Red Lion

Lance gasped, sitting upright. He moaned at the pain through his whole body and fell back against the wall he’d been leaning against. Everything hurt, everything stung. He could barely think. Most of what came to him were flashes of memories, most of them in tatters. Of Sendak demanding knowledge about the location of fleets, of bases, of allies. And Lance saying nothing.

And…Keith…watching the whole thing.

“Keith,” Lance said, his voice coming out hoarse and hurting his entire being.

“Yeah, we know,” Pidge’s voice said. “He’s here.”

“He’s…” Lance croaked. “He’s different.”

Lance looked up at Pidge and saw their whole face laced in worry. Something was wrong. Something Lance missed. Pidge barely looked him in the eye, but still tried to look him over, tracing light fingers over the scars and cuts over Lance’s body.

“What’s wrong?” Lance pressed.

“Hunk,” Pidge said. “They took him after they brought you back. They’re doing the same thing to him…They’re going to do the same to me.”

“No, they can’t,” Lance tried to sit up, but laid back down when the pain was too much. “I’m the pilot, I’m the one in charge of you two, they should only be questioning me.” He knew what he said about dealing with the torture and saying nothing, but…he couldn’t let his friends get hurt like he did.

“Maybe they think they can get us to talk by trying to torture all of us,” Pidge said. “I can’t think about what’s happening to Hunk. If it’s just as bad as you…” The idea of Pidge being tortured as well set Lance on edge. He couldn’t let this happen to either member of his team. Not what he went through. But…it was too late for Hunk. This was exactly what the Galra had planned. If there was one thing Lance had learned at the garrison, it was that the Galra loved to take advantage of weaknesses. They knew how close the three of them were. If they couldn’t get information through torture, they could get information from the others trying to stop the torture.

“Hunk’s strong, he can handle this,” Lance said. “I didn’t…say anything. But we’ll think of something before they get to you, too.” He couldn’t let another friend go through that.

“What can we do?” Pidge snapped. “We can’t escape anywhere! There are Galra soldiers all over this ship! And I’ve tried seeing what I can do on my own against their tech, but without any equipment, it’s hopeless.”

“We have to think of something,” Lance said.

“Look at yourself, Lance,” Pidge said. “You’re hurt, you’re not gonna be able to go anywhere like this. But if Hunk and I can get through this torture they probably won’t have enough time to try again. And then we’ll be taken where all the prisoners are held. Maybe we’ll get a chance to heal.”

“And if not?” Lance asked, starting to feel pessimistic. Seeing Keith like that had totally wrecked his confidence. “Everyone knows the Galra are merciless. If we’re weak, they might just kill us anyway. We need to try and find a way out.”

All of a sudden, he felt…something. He wasn’t sure what or how or why…but he felt something. And it sent a clear image in his head. Of hallways. A way through the ship, to find…something, he wasn’t sure what. Lance looked at Pidge, who furrowed their brows in confusion. They stayed quiet for a while before Lance had the courage to speak up.

“You saw that, too, right?” Lance asked.

“A vision or something?…What was that?” Pidge asked. “The Galra don’t have telepathic ability, at least not that we know of.”

“Then it wasn’t the Galra,” Lance mused. “Okay, new plan, we find a way to get to whatever that was.”

“We don’t even know if it can help us,” Pidge pressed.

“We have to try something,” Lance said, trying to stand up. But he couldn’t do it on his own. Pidge sighed and helped Lance get to his feet, slowly but surely. All of Lance’s insides felt like they were burning, but he could handle this. Until they got somewhere safer. “Okay…so we need to find a way to get Hunk back, too. How long has he been gone?”

“Almost as long as you were?” Pidge offered. “They’ll probably be back soon.”

“Okay, then,” Lance said, trying to go through his brain and think of a plan. They couldn’t just rush the Galra soldiers and make a run for it. They had guns that could just knock them out in a matter of seconds. There was apparently no getting through to Keith. And on top of it all, they would most likely have an unconscious Hunk on their hands. This was going to be practically impossible.

There was another pulse of…of something. It came into Lance’s mind clear as day, a message, but without words. It was Keith. The way to get to this…way out. Was Keith. Perfect.

“Did you, uh, get that one?” Lance asked.

“One what?” Pidge asked. “Did you get another one of those…message…things?”

“Not important,” Lance muttered. “Can’t really figure out what it means, anyway. So, what do you think we should do? I’m not coming up with any good plans yet.”

“Maybe if I had some kind of tools, but I have nothing,” Pidge said. “Look, Lance, I can handle a little torture.”

“I don’t want to make you,” Lance said seriously. “I was the one that got us into this stupid mess because I was an idiot. Now let me try and fix my mistake.”

“How?” Pidge asked.

“Let’s hope I can think of something,” Lance muttered. What did this have to do with Keith, that little traitor? The door opened and both Lance and Pidge tensed, watching as two sentries dragged in Hunk, who was indeed unconscious. He looked just as bad as Lance did and Lance couldn’t help the horrible feeling of guilt that washed over him because of it.

They dropped Hunk unceremoniously on the ground and Lance growled, clenching his teeth tightly. He had to move fast, think of something he could possibly do. He would move slowly and it would hurt like hell, but he could manage. For the sake of his team. After taking a short breath, Lance charged forward, apparently managing to take the robotic sentries by surprise. He gripped hard onto its gun, wrenching it out of its grip. With that, it was pretty easy to figure out where the trigger was. He pointed it right at the sentry in front of him, firing until it fell, sparking into the ground. He shot another before they started shooting back, but Lance was faster and had better aim.

Soon, all that was standing in front of them was Keith and Lance pointed the gun right at him.

“Don’t move,” Lance ordered. Keith actually stayed still for a grand total of two seconds before charging. Lance’s finger twitched over the trigger, but he didn’t pull it. He couldn’t do it. Not Keith. Not another human. Keith gripped hard onto Lance’s gun, shoving him into the wall behind him. Lance cried out at the added pain, but kept his own grip. He moved to slam his head into Keith’s and the second their heads made contact, Lance was overwhelmed with another vision. The hallways again. He had to go down the hallways. With Keith.

When Lance looked up at Keith, he saw that Keith faltered, shaking his head.

“Pidge, stay put, take a gun!” Lance ordered, dropping the gun and gripping hard onto Keith’s wrist. “I’ll try to be back soon, wake Hunk up!” With that, Lance started sprinting. He had to make it to whatever was sending these messages, it was the only way he could make it out safely. And he could take Keith with him, figure out what the Galra did to him, and hopefully save him.

“Let go of me now!” Keith demanded, actually fighting back. But he wasn’t slowly down Lance’s pace. In fact, he was running with him, in the same direction. Was he receiving these messages, too? There was no way… What was this thing? And why did the Galra have it?

“I’m not letting you out of my sight!” Lance shouted. In front of them, a line of sentries blocked the entire hallway, guns pointed directly at them. Lance really wished he hadn’t dropped that stupid gun. “Holy shit!” What now? He hoped for another message, but he didn’t get anything.

“This way!” Keith shouted, taking a sudden turn down a different corridor.

“Hey! I’m leading!” Lance protested.

“Do you know your way around this ship?” Keith snapped. “Follow me!”

“And how do I know you’re not taking me to Sendak?”

“You don’t!”

“Fantastic! I guess our relationship is off to a great start, then!”

“Just shut up and follow me!”

The sentries were behind them now, shooting. Lance was able to duck out of the way, but it still put him completely on edge. Keith turned another corner and Lance was doing everything in his power to keep up. He was getting tired really quickly and all of his injuries were screaming at him to stop and rest. But he knew he couldn’t.

“Do you even know what this thing is?” Lance asked. “The thing sending these messages?”

“No! Do you?”

“Why the hell would I know? You’re the one that lives here!”

“Not my choice!”

“Then why are you here?”

More shooting and this time, a shot hit Lance right in the back. He cried out, stumbling, but Keith kept pulling him forward at the same, relentless pace.

“Less talking, more running!” Keith snapped.

Finally, they reached a door and Keith all but slammed his hand onto the pad before running in with Lance. Once inside, Keith closed the door and made quick work of destroying the pad inside by hand.

“Why are you helping me?” Lance asked, panting as he watched Keith work. “Because I swear you were not like this last time I saw you.”

“That…message,” Keith said, panting, but not looking up at Lance. “It’s…reminding me of…something. I…don’t know…Just be thankful I’m actually helping you.”

“Yeah, helping,” Lance muttered, rubbing his back where the shot had landed. Thankfully it seemed these Galra didn’t use bullets, just beams of energy. They hurt more, but he didn’t need immediate medical attention. Keith looked past Lance finally and his eyes widened, looking up slowly.

Lance raised a brow, turning around and probably making the same expression. It was…a giant, red, mechanical lion? That was the last thing Lance expected to see, but yet it was sitting right in front of him. Surprisingly, there were no guards anywhere in the large room. But there was what looked like an energy field surrounding the lion, keeping it safe.

“Whoa,” Lance said, not even looking away to see Keith’s reaction. “Do you know what this is?”

“No,” Keith muttered. “I…I’ve never heard we have something like this on the ship. It’s…looking at me.”

“What?” Lance scoffed, trying to move side-to-side, to see if it was looking at him. “No way, man, it’s just a robot.”

“Yeah, but…” Keith walked in front of him, his hand hovering over the field as he stared up at the lion. “Something’s up. I feel like…I don’t know…I need to be here.” He placed his hand on the field and…suddenly, Lance got another vision.

But this one wasn’t like the others. No, this was incredibly clear in his head. It was…the lion, and four others…all different colors. And they could combine together and-and create one giant robot?

 _Voltron_.

Now that sounded familiar. It was some superweapon that the Galra were trying to find. There were multiple reports of translated Galra transmissions talking about Voltron. But it was a crazy giant robot?

“Holy shit,” Lance mused. “Did you…did you see that?!”

“I…did,” Keith muttered. “This…is part of Voltron? I thought it would be…I don’t know, something else?”

“Wh-where are the other lions?” Lance asked. “If we could find these and figure out how to form Voltron…we could stop the Galra Empire in its tracks! We could save the whole universe, Keith!”

“Or…Zarkon could finish taking over the universe,” Keith muttered under his breath, but Lance still heard him. They both shared a long look with each other. What happened to Keith while he was up here? What did the Galra do to him? Whose side was he on?

The door creaked and, with the sound of gunfire, it broke open. Lance and Keith immediately jumped, stepping back into the field. It wasn’t letting them in. What did that mean? Was there no way to get to the Lion? This time, it wasn’t just the sentries. There were actual Galra soldiers there, waiting for them. Lance swallowed thickly. He might just die here…Or get damn close.

“Stay back,” Keith said, moving himself in front of Lance. Lance blinked, eyes wide at the display. Hell, even the Keith he knew on Earth wouldn’t do this for him. So what was going on now? Keith narrowed his eyes as the soldiers all aimed their guns, but waited to fire. “This lion is mine.”

“Yeah? What makes you so sure?” Lance asked. “’Cause it seems like these guys think it’s theirs.”

“Shut up, I’m trying to work around it,” Keith said, looking around. There was a little podium in front of them, something with a lot of screens. The soldiers weren’t moving yet. “Hold your breath!”

“What? Why?” Lance asked. Keith lurched forward, towards the podium. The soldiers started firing, advancing towards them.

“Just do it!” Keith snapped, slamming his hand onto the screen. A door on the floor slowly started opening, sucking all of the air out with it. Lance finally took Keith’s advice as he noticed that the door was literally opening _into space_. What the hell was wrong with this guy?! Keith held onto the podium tightly, but Lance had nothing to hold onto. He practically went flying with everything else in the room. But just as he passed Keith, a hand gripped onto his arm, practically pulling it out of its socket.

Lance cried out in pain as Keith kept him from falling into the void of space around them. He tried to suck in another breath, but it felt like there was no air left in the room. He gripped onto Keith’s hand as he started to feel himself suffocate. Keith’s grip started slipping and Lance looked at him with wide eyes. Was this really the best idea they could come up with?! At least sitting in that cell, there was a chance he could live! He just hoped that Pidge and Hunk could make it through…without him.

Keith let go and they both tumbled out into space, but kept their grip on each other. Lance started to feel his brain getting fuzzy from the lack of oxygen, black creeping on the corners of his vision. He was going to die of suffocation, wasn’t he?

He closed his eyes, but widened them again when he heard what sounded like a roar coming from the ship. He looked up in awe to see the red lion coming right towards them, mouth open. Lance flinched, but by the time he opened his eyes again, he was inside the mouth, which closed. Gravity became a factor and they slammed onto the ground. Lance hit his head hard and he sucked in a breath.

He sucked in a breath.

He held onto his throat, letting out a little laugh. “I’m alive,” he whispered. “I’m alive. I’m inside the mouth of a giant space lion. And I’m alive.”

“Don’t count yourself that lucky yet,” Keith said and Lance looked up at him with a sigh.

“You know how to ruin the moment, don’t you?” Lance pouted, but blinked at the sight of what looked like a pathway from the mouth. They really had no other options so they both got up, walking through the pathway, which quickly led them to what could only be described as some kind of cockpit, what looked like a chair sitting in front of them. That did bring the question of how someone was supposed to pilot this thing. Keith was already sitting down in the chair by the time Lance reached him. “Do you even know how this thing works?”

“No,” Keith said. The chair jolted slightly before it started moving and Lance watched as it pulled him right towards the controls. He followed after him a little hesitantly. “But I’m willing to find out.”

“Okay…” Lance muttered. They entered what looked like a cockpit of some kind, but it didn’t look anything like what Lance was used to. Definitely not Earth tech. Definitely not Galra tech, either. So what was it? The chair moved Keith right up to two handles and, with a shrug, he took hold of them. Something must have happened because Keith suddenly stiffened, his eyes unfocusing for a few seconds. “Uh…Keith? Keith! What’s going on?”

“I…” Keith shook his head, his breathing suddenly labored. “I need to find Shiro.”

“Shiro?” Lance asked. “He’s alive?”

“Of course he’s alive!” Keith snapped. He calmed down, trying to even out his breathing. “He’s the reason I’m here. He’s somewhere on that ship.”

“Okay, and we’re also not leaving until we get Pidge and Hunk,” Lance pressed.

Keith paused, his fingers drumming over the handles as he thought. “Fine. After that, we need to get as far away from the Galra as possible.”

“Deal.” The faster he could get away from the Galra, the better. For now, he could ignore how strangely cooperative Keith was being, considering he was in the hands of the Galra for, what, four, five years? Once they were safe, he could start asking those kinds of questions. For now… “So…do you know how to fly this thing?”

“I can fly anything,” Keith said. “I’m the best pilot in the Galra Empire.”

He pushed one of the levers forward and the lion started moving. Admittedly, it was smooth and quick. Lance could probably never catch onto something like this so quickly. Alien tech he’d never heard of? Just a few years ago he could barely fly something made by humans. And this thing looked nothing like the ships he’d flown. But Keith had a little smirk on his face as he started moving around the ship.

“You know…” Lance said, a little hesitantly, but he had to get this off his chest. “You used to be the best pilot of our generation. On Earth.”

Keith’s grip on the handles tightened and Keith’s jaw clenched. “I know that…” They were silent for a few very, very long seconds before Keith spoke up again. “It’s…it’s talking to me. The lion. It knows where Shiro and the others are. Don’t ask me how, it just…does. Your friends are closest.”

“Right,” Lance said. “What’s our plan?”

Keith licked his lips, trying to think. “We need to get you a gun. From what I can tell, you’re a good shot. Just don’t throw it away this time. They moved your friends, but they haven’t been taken to Sendak yet, which means we’re in luck. One problem. There aren’t any hangars I can get into.”

“Which means…?” Lance asked.

“I’m going to have to break my way in,” Keith said, backing up the lion, facing it towards the wall. Already, there were ships around them and they were starting to fire, shaking the lion. “We won’t have long. Get your friends and get back in here. Then we get Shiro.”

“Right,” Lance said, butterflies swarming in his stomach. He took a deep breath, rubbing his hands together. He’d been in fights before. A lot of fights. He could handle this. “Let’s do this.”

Keith nodded before he pushed forward, all but ramming the lion into the ship. Lance held onto the chair tightly as they crashed into it roughly, slamming into the ship itself. There wouldn’t be a lot of air with the hole, but Lance only had to be there for a few seconds. Get a gun, get Pidge and Hunk, get back to the lion. Simple.

Lance ran back to where he came from and the lion was kind enough to open its mouth for him as he sprinted out. Thankfully, a sentry lay crushed by his feet but its gun was still intact. Lance picked it up, but it didn’t look like any guards were still around. Easy. There were a few cells in front of him, but he was guessing that the one right in front of the lion was the one with his team. He fired the gun at the little pad, hoping that would do something. When one shot didn’t work, he tried again and again, hoping to get a different result. Finally, after about six shots, it finally jerked open, but just a few inches.

Lance immediately moved forward and started pulling the door open, slowly but surely. It took all of his strength and hurt his already injured stomach and back, but he got it open enough for him to slip through. When he got inside, he saw a very, very injured Pidge leaning against a still passed-out Hunk.

“So, what did you find?” Pidge asked hurriedly.

“Well, you’re gonna find out,” Lance said, immediately going to the door and pulling it open enough for Hunk to fit through. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Where’s Keith?” Pidge asked suspiciously. “Can we trust him?”

“You know,” Lance grunted as he pulled the door just about as far as it would go. “I have no clue. Can you get up?”

“Yeah,” Pidge said, slowly standing up, using the wall as support. “I…don’t think I can help you with Hunk, though.”

“That’s alright,” Lance said, kneeling down beside his engineer. “Just go out and into the mouth of the lion.”

“What?” Pidge asked.

“You heard me,” Lance said, slowly getting Hunk to his feet. It was tough, considering all of his injuries and Hunk’s weight, but soon he got both their feet under them. He grunted as he started moving, hoping this was the last of the heavy lifting he had to do. With falling into space and being shot multiple times adding onto his torture, he really wasn’t feeling up to much else.

“That’s…a big lion,” Pidge mused, but kept moving forward, stepping inside.

“That’s not even half of it,” Lance mused, stepping in after him. “There was this big vision about Voltron. It’s a giant-”

“-robot made up of lions,” Pidge finished for him, staring at him with wide eyes. “I saw that vision, too, but I thought I was just dreaming, passing out from the pain.”

“I wish this was a dream,” Lance huffed. The lion’s mouth closed and they started moving. He shook his head, keeping Hunk on his feet as he walked him back to where Keith was piloting. The ride was a lot less smooth this time, with all the ships around them. There was no doubt Sendak probably wanted them dead now. The Galra empire wanted Voltron more than anything else in the universe. So why hadn’t they done anything with the lion while they already had it?

Finally, Lance set Hunk down onto the ground, watching as Pidge sat down as well. Lance was so exhausted he was about ready to pass out with them, but he wanted to stay conscious for the time being.

“So, where’s Shiro?” Lance asked.

“Wait, Shiro?” Pidge asked with wide eyes, suddenly a lot more awake than before. “He’s alive? Here?” Keith stayed quiet as he focused on piloting and Lance nodded slowly. He knew exactly where this conversation would go. “Then the rest of the crew from the Kerberos Mission should be safe, too, right?”

“Maybe,” Lance said. “For now, we need to focus on getting out of here.”

“But if we knew where the prisoners are going, then maybe we could find-”

“I know,” Lance pressed. “But right now, we need to get out of here. If you go back in there, Pidge, you probably won’t make it out alive. Keith, you know where you’re going?”

“Yeah,” Keith said simply, grunting as they received a really big hit.

Lance sighed with relief. “Please tell me you’re gonna get him, because I can’t handle much else.” Pidge was glaring at him, but didn’t say anything. They both knew Pidge couldn’t do anything in his condition, even if he could find who he was looking for. And that was one big ‘if’.

“That’s the hard part,” Keith said, staying focused on the battle in front of him. “He’s…with Sendak.”

“Uh…” Lance said, nearly falling over with a particularly hard blast. “That’s gonna be a little hard.”

“I’m _not_ leaving without him,” Keith spat.

“Relax, never said you had to,” Lance muttered. He looked over the gun, wondering if that could even do much to such a big looking Galra. “Shiro’s my hero. He was my inspiration to finish flight school, even at the bottom of my class. If he’s actually alive…I’m not gonna leave him behind, either.”

“Good,” Keith said. “Because we’re going to go right for the center and I need you to go out shooting.”

“Just don’t expect much from me after all this is over,” Lance muttered, about to start walking back to the mouth to make sure he was prepared.

“Good, you’re already starting to annoy me,” Keith said. “Now get ready. We’ll fly out as soon as you’re on board.”

“And if Shiro doesn’t want to come with me?” Lance asked. It was incredibly likely that Shiro was in the same position as Keith. Maybe he was a part of the Galra? After all, Keith did say that he was with Sendak. During a big battle like this? A Galra commander would want his right hand man by his side. And if that was Shiro? Well, Lance just hoped that they were lucky and Shiro was seeing all of these weird visions, too.

“Then find a way to make him come,” Keith said pointedly. “Shoot him if you have to.”

“Roger that,” Lance said. He stood right where the mouth opened, gun ready to fire. Well, this was bound to be an interesting reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I said you’d see Shiro and I’m sorry but all you get are some references. A lot more happened here than I thought would happen so I’m very, very sorry. On the bright side, we now have a lion and at least four out of five paladins are safe! Not exactly healthy, but they’re safe now. But yeah, a lot happened this chapter. I want most chapters to be about this long, the first one just happened to be shorter because what I needed to happen already did. Oh, well. Next time we get a real look at Shiro and then the trip to Altea begins!
> 
> Preview:
> 
> "Look, if we’re really doing this…taking a lion from Zarkon is already treasonous enough. Taking Voltron and using it to fight against him? I’m not even sure if we can do it.”
> 
> “Voltron is the only thing that can do it,” Keith pressed. “For…years, I never even though about trying to defeat him, I thought it was impossible. But his lion…it’s given me something I haven’t had since I found you. Hope.”
> 
> “Well, there’s no going back now,” Shiro muttered. “Besides, there’s no way we’d even be able to hide from Zarkon. If this is our best shot, then I’m willing. And…what about these three? Do you trust them?”


	3. A Matter of Trust

Chapter 3

A Matter of Trust

They crashed hard into the ship once again and Lance grunted, hoping he could actually stay on his feet this whole time. Once he was safe in that lion again, he couldn’t wait to just pass out. Then again, he wasn’t sure how much he trusted his team in the hands of someone like Keith. But he wasn’t sure how long he could stay standing without some help. If he was lucky, Shiro would help him, but luck didn’t exactly seem like it was on his side today. The mouth of the lion opened and Lance was immediately greeted by gunfire completely surrounding him.

He fired as many shots as he could before he had to find cover. He ducked out of the lion, behind some kind of support beam. But that only saved him a second. He used that second to try and scope out the area around him. There were so many Galra soldiers and robot sentries around that it was overwhelming. But thankfully, that meant that he could find the odd one out really easily. Only one human in the whole room…

Lance had seen Takashi Shirogane only in pictures and on TV in the past and, like, one passing glance at the garrion. Back then, he stood tall and proud, like a good soldier, but there was something kind in his eyes. Now…well, there were definitely a few things about him that had changed. His black hair, for one, had practically all turned white, and…was that a robotic arm? Not to mention that wicked scar across his nose. If Lance thought he looked like a soldier before, now he was on another level. Lance only got a quick glance at him before he had to hide behind the beam again, holding onto the gun tightly. They had to get out of here quickly, but how was he supposed to do that when Shiro was practically standing right beside Sendak?

With a deep breath, he started running right in Shiro’s direction. He got hit plenty of times, but he could handle it. Nothing hit anything important, thankfully, but that changed quickly. Sendak didn’t even hesitate to slam his own robotic hand right into Lance’s stomach, flinging him backwards and he hit the floor hard. He watched with wide eyes as the gun clattered to the floor, sliding out of his reach.

“You have strength, I will admit,” Sendak said with a sneer. The guns stopped firing as he stood in front of him and Lance couldn’t help but feel like he was looking up at the thing that would kill him. There was nothing he could do, not against someone that big and that strong. “I definitely think we should consider taking more Earthling prisoners if all of them have as much spirit.” Did that mean he didn’t intend to kill Lance? Was he just going to keep him as prisoner? In that case, he was going to take a chance and gamble with all he had left.

“Shiro!” Lance shouted. “Shiro, if you’re anything like the guy that went on the Kerberos Mission, you’ll listen to me.”

“Stay quiet,” Sendak said simply, a foot firmly on Lance’s stomach. Lance cried out and he could have sworn he felt some ribs breaking, if they weren’t already all broken. “Now, your friends are injured enough, it should be easy to reclaim the Red Lion for our own.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” Lance said simply. God, he hoped Keith wouldn’t just be sitting there and he would actually help him out. There was no way for him to communicate with him, though. At least Keith could tell that Lance was definitely in some distress.

Thankfully, the lion opened its mouth and Lance’s eyes widened at something that definitely hadn’t been there before. It looked like the barrel of a gun, maybe it was some kind of canon that the lion had. But if Keith fired now, where they were, Lance might get hit and who knew what would happen to everyone in the room. Turned out they wouldn’t have the time to find out.

A single blaster shot carried through the room and Lance flinched, but it was Sendak who stumbled, removing his foot just enough for Lance to roll out of the way. Lance stood up, his arm instinctively covering his injured stomach. When he looked up, he saw that Shiro was holding a blaster he definitely didn’t have before, pointing it right at Sendak.

“You are making a fatal mistake,” Sendak warned him, but Shiro didn’t say anything, keeping the gun even.

“Shiro,” Lance said carefully. “We need to get going. Now.”

“I’m not leaving without Keith,” Shiro said.

“He’s in the lion,” Lance said. Shiro only glanced at him and Lance could tell that he didn’t trust him. Why would he? This was probably his first time even seeing Lance. “You have to trust me. You’ve been getting those visions, too, right?” Please, please, please let him be getting those visions. Shiro faltered only slightly, still keeping the gun even. That spurred Lance on. “We’re all gonna be safe once we get out of here. You won’t have to follow their orders anymore. Please, come with us.”

“Hesitation doesn’t become you, Champion,” Sendak said simply. His mechanical hand surged forward, easily grabbing Lance and lifting him off the ground. The hand started squeezing and Lance cried out, trying to kick his legs to do something, but he wasn’t anywhere near close enough to do any damage. “Get the lion back for us.” It was an order. Lance winced, hoping that Shiro had enough control over himself to not follow it, but he had no way of knowing what was going through his head.

It fell deathly silent for a few seconds before Lance heard another blaster shot. This time, the shot hit Sendak right in the arm, on the electrical bit that honestly didn’t look like it was connected to him. The electricity flickered and the arm seemed to malfunction, dropping Lance roughly on the ground. Shiro started running towards him as everything else in the room started to fire. Sendak growled while his arm began returning to normal.

Shiro met Lance’s gaze for only a second, but Lance got the message. He was coming along. But he still had the gun, maybe just in case it turned out Lance was lying. Lance was barely able to stumble into the lion before the mouth closed behind him. He fell onto his knees, panting as he felt the lion creak and move, still getting hit on all sides. It probably couldn’t stand up to much more punishment.

Lance gritted his teeth, looking up as Shiro moved further into the lion, apparently distracted enough by the strange technology around him. Well, at least he wasn’t trying to kill Lance. At this point, that was all Lance could ask for in a new friend. Lance slowly got to his feet, using the walls around him as support to get back to the cockpit. Hunk was still passed out and Pidge was asleep as well, leaning on him. Shiro was beside Keith, both of them whispering things Lance couldn’t hear.

“So, what now?” Lance asked, his voice shaking but loud enough to be heard by the other two. He leaned heavily against a wall, looking at the screen that displayed what was going on around them.

“We get out of here,” Keith said simply. Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder and they shared a look before Keith nodded. Those two had apparently been together for years. They probably knew each other better than anyone else. Than Lance and his own team.

“How do we do that?” Lance asked after quite a few blasts hit hard. Sirens started going off, red lights blinking around them. It was now or never.

“The lion knows what it’s doing,” Keith said, pushing forward on the handles. Suddenly, in front of them, something huge appeared, like a circle. Lance had never seen anything like it, but it reminded him of some kind of portal from some video games he used to play.

“A wormhole?” Shiro asked. “Do you know where it will lead us?”

“No,” Keith said.

“Either we go through there now,” Lance said, “or we die here. Or are you guys really willing to go back there?” Lance glanced at Pidge and Hunk, who didn’t have a say in this matter. If they went through that wormhole, they probably wouldn’t know where they were or how to get back. But it was the only way to keep his team alive. He had to make this decision.

“I trust you,” Shiro said, a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith nodded and they moved forward, directly into the wormhole. It was a bumpy ride and Lance fell over, hitting onto the floor hard. He nearly passed out from the pain, but he had to stay awake, had to make sure his team was going to make it out of this okay. The lion continued to slam him around and he had nothing to hold onto.

Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay awake.

Lance panted as he felt reality slipping away. He couldn’t pass out. Not now! But the idea of just giving in and falling asleep was far too appealing. He was barely able to see the lion come out of the wormhole, back into seemingly empty space, before he gave up trying.

* * *

There was a thud and Keith glanced back. The man…Lance…finally passed out from all of his injuries. The other two didn’t seem like they were about to wake up anytime soon, either…Leaving him alone with Shiro.

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” Shiro asked him, looking out at the display. Neither of them had been this far out in the galaxy. None of the stars looked familiar, nor did the planets that they could see. The lion seemed to know exactly where it was going, practically piloting itself. One word seemed to resonate in Keith’s head. _Home_.

“I don’t know,” Keith admitted. “I…when I…touched the controls it was like…Like my head was finally clear. And those visions. Did you see them, too?”

“Of Voltron?” Shiro asked, nodding slowly. “Yeah, I did. Look, if we’re really doing this…taking a lion from Zarkon is already treasonous enough. Taking Voltron and using it to fight against him? I’m not even sure if we can do it.”

“Voltron is the only thing that can do it,” Keith pressed. “For…years, I never even though about trying to defeat him, I thought it was impossible. But his lion…it’s given me something I haven’t had since I found you. Hope.”

“Well, there’s no going back now,” Shiro muttered. “Besides, there’s no way we’d even be able to hide from Zarkon. If this is our best shot, then I’m willing. And…what about these three? Do you trust them?”

“I think Lance already earned my trust,” Keith said simply. Watching him not only keep standing after so much torture, which he had _watched_ , but also run and take heavy fire and carry his team to safety…it showed a lot of loyalty. And he recognized Keith from back on Earth, years ago. Lance wasn’t about to give up on him and he’d proven it. If the rest of his team was anything like him…well, Keith could learn to trust them as well.

He couldn’t explain what had happened once he started piloting this lion. But it made everything clear, helped him make sense of his thoughts. His time with the Galra was incredibly clear, all the time he spent with Shiro as a prisoner, being trained to forget his time on Earth. His time as a human. But this lion helped bring back his memories from Earth. While he hadn’t immediately recognized Lance, he did now. He was probably the worst pilot in the academy but seemed to think that it was a good idea to challenge Keith to absolutely everything. Keith had barely noticed him. Now he kind of regretted that.

Thinking about his time on Earth made him want to fight back against the Galra now more than ever. He had to. If they could find the rest of the lions, find Voltron, maybe it would be possible to stop them…And if the others had seen that vision of Voltron as well…maybe they were meant to be a team. It felt like the red lion was practically built for him and he already felt a strong bond with it. Maybe it was the same thing with the other lions.

“They’re going to need medical attention,” Shiro said, changing the subject after the long silence that stretched between them. The lion was leading them to a planet. It looked full of life and honestly quite beautiful. It was obvious the Galra Empire had yet to touch it. There was a castle ahead and, from what Keith could tell from the lion, it had a way to help them. Keith didn’t know how, but he was willing to trust the lion. It hadn’t steered him wrong so far.

Suddenly, one of them gasped. It was the big guy, the one Lance had to carry inside. He looked the least injured out of everyone, but Keith had seen the torture he’d gone through as well. He probably couldn’t stay on his feet for very long, either.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, looking up at Shiro and Keith with wide eyes. “Where am I? And what did you two do to my team?”

“Relax,” Shiro said. “We aren’t going to hurt you.”

“Oh, yeah, because my team looks totally fine in your caring hands,” the man snapped.

“Let’s touch down on the ground first,” Shiro said, trying to keep a level head as always. No doubt, however, a lot of thoughts were turning violently in his head. Keith could only guess what he was really thinking about and who knew how long his patience could last. “We can decide where we go from there, alright?”

“Where are we?” the man asked skeptically.

“We don’t know,” Keith said. “We went through a wormhole.”

“A wormhole,” the man said. “Fine, but if I smell anything fishy…I’m not afraid to fight you both.” Keith chose to ignore the fact that his voice wavered at the very end, betraying the lie in his sentence, focusing on getting them on the ground instead. This was all so much to handle, he just wanted things to slow down. He needed to process the fact that he was away from the Galra for the first time in years…that he’d turned his back on the Galra empire all because of three people who were practically strangers and a giant, red lion.

Finally, they touched down right in front of the castle. It was an impressive sight, but nothing like any castles Keith had heard of before. It was definitely non-human and non-Galra. Which meant it might just be from the same people that made the lion, that made Voltron. The lion was telling him to get out and wait for the door to open. There was only one problem with that.

He looked back at the two who were still passed out.

“Let’s head outside,” Keith said, standing up. The lion wasn’t about to start moving, so he wasn’t going to force it. “Do you trust us to get your friends out of here, big man? I think there’s something inside that castle that can help them.”

“How do you know that?” the man asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I can’t explain it,” Keith tried. “Listen, you need to trust us, at least just for now.”

The man looked at him and then at Shiro, a long silence stretching between them. “I’ll get Lance.” He walked over to Lance, carefully maneuvering him so that he was resting in his arms. He was able to stand up and walk around easily, meaning he was probably very strong. A good ally, if he could learn to trust them. Shiro took the small one and Keith was the first out of the lion, looking up at the castle curiously. It didn’t look like there was a door or any kind of entrance, so how were they supposed to get inside?

“Whoa,” the man said in wonder as he finally left, looking up at the lion with wide eyes. “No way, I-I thought that was just some crazy dream…You can’t tell me that Voltron is really a bunch of lions.”

“So we really did all see it,” Keith mused. Once Shiro stepped off as well, the lion closed its mouth and stood up. Before anyone could say anything, it let out a loud roar and Keith flinched. He looked back at the castle, watching in awe as a large section of the wall began to open, like a door. Were the lions the key? So the castle was definitely created by the same people as the lions and Voltron. Interesting.

“There’s really nowhere else to go,” Shiro mused.

“And the only way to get them help is inside,” Keith said, walking forward with a small shrug. He looked at the man, who still didn’t look like he could trust them. But when he looked down at Lance, his expression softened. It was obvious that he was still feeling his own injuries as well. If they were to work as a team, hopefully they could find a way to fully heal everyone.

“Let’s go,” the man said, walking ahead. Keith bit his lip, but followed after him. He glanced back at the lion, which just sat down, staring at the castle. From what Keith could tell, the lion felt comfortable, safe. Which meant Keith should, too.

So why didn’t he?

Walking inside the castle, it was completely empty. Almost eerily so. They walked forward quietly, Lance’s friend constantly looking around for something that could help them. Lights turned on as they entered what felt like a ballroom of some kind. There were stairs that led into a different hallway and they could only follow. And they walked through a lot of hallways, travelled up and down a lot of stairs. This castle felt like a maze. Lance’s friend was starting to stumble a bit, his fatigue showing. Hopefully, this was leading them to something that could help them.

But when they finally reached a room with nowhere else to go…they were left kind of empty. It was a fairly large room, but there was almost nothing in it, aside from one stand in the center. Keith moved forward as Shiro and Lance’s friend set down the two who were still unconscious. Examining the stand in the center of the room, all he could find was that it was some kind of computer, but it was cold and turned off. And it was covered in a thick layer of dust. It hadn’t been touched at all in quite some time…

“So…where are we now?” Lance’s friend asked carefully.

“I don’t know,” Keith muttered. “This far away from the lion, I’m not getting any information.”

“So, what now?” Shiro asked, walking around the room with a thoughtful look on his face. “I don’t know that the Galra will be coming after us soon, which means we have a limited window of time.”

“This place is important, though,” Keith pressed. “The lion wouldn’t have taken us here if it wasn’t.”

“Yeah, you two are making no sense to me,” Lance’s friend said bluntly. “And I don’t trust this place. It’s too big to try looking around for a place to help my friends and obviously nothing’s here, so-”

They all froze at the sight of something coming up, out of the floor. It was some kind of small containment unit, but when Keith stepped forward to get a closer look, he noticed that someone was actually inside. Another one came up from the ground, this one closest to Shiro, and it had another person inside it as well.

“What is this place?” Keith mused, looking closer at the person in front of him. It was a woman with incredibly long, thick white hair, pointed ears, and some markings around her eyes. Keith took a startled step back as the glass on the pod vanished, letting out freezing cold air with it. The woman opened her eyes, holding out her hand as if she was reaching for something.

“Father!” she gasped as she tumbled out of the pod and Keith caught her before she could fall to the floor. Keith stayed in a stunned silence as they look each other in the eye and, honestly, he found himself extremely interested in the fact that she had multiple colors in her irises.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” she demanded, standing up on her own, looking Keith up and down suspiciously before turning to the others in the room. “Is the battle still continuing? Where is King Alfor?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keith said simply. The woman narrowed her eyes, looking him over. She lingered on his ears a bit longer than she should have, and then she immediately walked over the stand in the center of the room. When she placed her hands on it, it seemed to whir to life, regardless of the amount of dust, a blue light emanating from it. Screens appeared out of nowhere, appearing in front of her eyes as she scanned through the information appearing.

The glass on the other pod vanished and the man inside opened his eyes wide. He had incredibly bright orange hair and honestly a rather impressive mustache. One thing Keith noticed was that both of these people were not dressed in simple clothing, meaning they weren’t soldiers or even just simple civilians. They did share similar characteristics, meaning that they were at least from the same planet.

The man shouted in surprise at the sight of Shiro before immediately tensing up. “Enemy combatants!” Keith could only watch as the man made the mistake of moving to strike Shiro. Out of reflex, Shiro roughly took hold of his arm and forced him into a kneeling position on the ground, pulling on the arm painfully to subdue the man.

“Release him at once!” the woman commanded. She spoke with authority, meaning in this place she must have had some. Was she some kind of royalty? Where did she even come from? They didn’t even know what planet they were on.

Shiro gritted his teeth as the man fought against his strong grip, but he did eventually release him, still on edge just in case he did try to attack again. The two shared an intense look and the tense atmosphere in the room almost made it hard to breathe.

“Who are you?” the woman asked. “Why are you here?”

“Look, all I know is that a giant, red lion brought us here and my friends are injured and need help,” Lance’s friend blurted out. “I’m not with these guys, so please.”

“The red lion…?” the woman mused. “What happened to its paladin?” She looked back to the screen.

“Allura,” the man said, walking over to the woman, but still not breaking eye contact with Shiro. “I don’t think we should trust these men.”

“But if the red lion brought them here…” the woman, Allura mused, not finishing her sentence as she finally came across something on the screen that made her jaw drop and her eyes widen. “No…it can’t be…We’ve been asleep for…ten thousand years!”

“Then, that must mean…” the man leaned closer to the screens, reading with her. “What of Altea?”

Altea? Immediately Keith looked at Shiro, who furrowed his brow. Keith had only heard passing remarks around some of the higher commanders in Zarkon’s army, but Altea was definitely something important. It was a place, something that had been destroyed a long, long time ago. Shiro surely knew something more about it, but now was definitely not the time to talk about it.

“It’s been destroyed,” Allura growled. “By Zarkon.” The two shared a moment, a long gaze with each other. For a second, they both shared a look in their eyes that Keith understood all too well. It was hopelessness, loneliness, sorrow.

“Then that means,” the Altean man mused, “we must be the last Alteans alive.”

Keith knew they would be short on time until they were found again, but he didn’t know how to interject on their moment. They’d just woken up from a sleep to find out their entire planet had been completely destroyed. It wasn’t exactly his place to tell them to mourn faster. Thankfully, he didn’t have to. A small sound disrupted the silence and Keith couldn’t help but think that it sounded familiar…Were those mice?

Allura immediately looked over to the pod she had been resting in, peeking inside before kneeling down, pulling out four little mice. She smiled softly as she looked at them.

“It looks like we’re not the last ones after all,” she said happily, standing up. It was silent again, tense, like no one was quite sure what else to say. It was obvious the Altean man didn’t trust them after Shiro’s display of strength. Allura spoke up after a short while, addressing the other three in the room now. “If the red lion trusted you, then I can as well.” Keith shifted awkwardly, looking away from her. He wasn’t even sure if he could be trusted. “We can get your friends into healing pods and they should be fine soon.”

“He’ll need attention, too,” Keith said, motioning towards Lance’s friend, who sent him a distrustful look.

“Not until I know what’s going on,” he insisted. Keith was nervous, honestly, He wasn’t sure if they could trust Lance’s partner to not give away where Keith and Shiro had been, where they came from. The way Allura talked about Zarkon, it was obvious she only hated him. If she knew about Keith and Shiro…their thin line of trust would vanish soon.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Shiro said simply. “Zarkon is going to come after us.”

“He’s still alive?” the Altean man asked with wide eyes.

“That’s impossible,” Allura muttered.

“Well, he is,” Shiro pressed. “We need everyone in their best shape before someone comes if we want to stand a chance.”

“How does he know where we are?” Allura demanded. “My father would have made sure-”

“He had the lion,” Keith said. “We stole it.” Allura stared at them all for a short while before messing with the stand once again. Another pod came up from the ground and she took a deep breath.

“We need to get all three in these pods and hope they can heal enough in a short time,” Allura said. “Coran, see if you can find out how long we have until the nearest Galra fleet reaches us.”

“I’m not going in there until I know my friends will be safe,” Lance’s friend insisted. “And that I can actually trust these guys.”

“You have my word as Princess of Altea that your friends will be safe until they wake,” Allura said and Keith nearly froze where he stood. She was the princess of the planet that was destroyed? Zarkon would go to great lengths to find her... “We don’t have a lot of time, we need to find the other lions and then you’ll need to form Voltron before the Galra come here.”

“We won’t do anything to you or your friends,” Shiro said simply, still sensing the distrust aimed at him and Keith. “We can talk through what happened on Sendak’s ship when you all wake up. But we don’t have the time to argue. Stealing from Zarkon, no matter who you are, is a life sentence, meaning we’re all in trouble if he does find us.”

“Fine,” Lance’s friend said simply. “But I still don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”

“I could say the same,” Keith said, but quickly moved over to Lance to help him into the pod. He wasn’t sure how Altean technology worked, but Allura seemed positive that it would heal them. It wasn’t until he had almost completely dragged Lance to a pod, with the big guy’s help, that he noticed the tatters around his shirt. Instead of a bare chest like he expected, he was greeted by the sight of a sports bra, nearly completely intact. Keith bit his lip as his attention was directed to his own chest and ribs, which were actually starting to hurt a little from all the strenuous activity on top of the layers he’d put on over his own chest.

He shook his head, stepping back as the glass enclosed Lance in the pod, alone. Shiro helped the smaller one into another pod and the last one shared a look with both Keith and Shiro before stepping into his own pod. Soon, all three of them were asleep and, hopefully, healing.

“By my estimations and what our scans say is the nearest Galra ship,” Coran said, obviously counting on his fingers, “We’ll have maybe a max of maybe half a day before we have company? We have until then to find the lions and get everyone to full health.”

“I already have locations on the Blue and Green Lions,” Allura said. It was like Shiro and Keith weren’t even there. “I can’t find the Yellow Lion.”

“You should get some rest,” Shiro said carefully. “Your breathing heavily and you can’t be comfortable.”

“I’ve dealt with worse,” Keith muttered.

“That doesn’t mean you should just deal with it now,” Shiro pressed. “Rest. I’m sure they have somewhere to sleep here that’s not in a pod. I’ll come get you the second something starts to happen.”

“What if we can’t find Voltron?” Keith asked. “What if the Galra come and we can’t defend ourselves and we lose?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Shiro said.

“You’ll go right back to where you were,” Keith said. “And it will be my fault. I shouldn’t have done this to you. You might lose more than an arm this time.”

“You took a risk for me,” Shiro said, making sure to keep eye contact with him. “It’s only fair I do the same for you. Now, get some rest, you need it.”

“You do, too,” Keith said.

“Maybe I’ll get some when this is all over,” Shiro said, patting Keith’s shoulder. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

Keith only nodded before carefully and awkwardly walking over to Allura to ask about a room. They didn’t have much time, but everyone did need to be rested if this was actually going to work. Fighting against Zarkon was already an impossible feat on its own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took way too long for me to write, what with moving and an incredibly hard work schedule taking over my life. And Pokemon Go, but that’s another story all together. But, yeah, finally we have Allura and Coran and the whole team is together. We’ll get to finding the lions next time and see where we go from there. I’m having a lot of fun with this and there’s a whole lot of layers for Keith and Shiro that haven’t even been touched yet, I’m stoked.
> 
> Anyway, here’s a preview for next chapter:   
> “I’m not sure if we should be the ones going after them,” Pidge spoke up. “I doubt we’re the kind of team you want.”  
> “Well, it’s less of the team we want, more like the team we need,” Coran mused, turning back towards them. “But you all managed to make it out of Zarkon’s hands together, so that has to count for something, right?”  
> “Uh, yeah, and is no one going to talk about the fact-”  
> “No,” Keith and Shiro cut him off at the same time and Lance narrowed his eyes. They knew exactly what he was about to bring up, but they shut it down. Keith and Shiro shared a look before Keith walked over to them.  
> “We’ll bring it up later,” Keith said in a hushed voice.


	4. Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Message at the bottom!

Lance gasped when his eyes opened, half expecting to still be in the lion, to still be chased. He was already tense and on edge, but instead he felt…oddly calm. And in way better shape than he thought he would be. He felt overwhelmed by a cold sensation as his eyes opened in an unfamiliar place. It was huge, but definitely not anything he would see on Earth or with the Galra. It was light and…he felt safe, oddly enough. He stumbled out of a pod-thingy, and it took him a little while to see Pidge and Hunk on the other side of the room. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that they were completely fine, their injuries mysteriously disappeared.

“Hey, he’s alive!” Pidge said with a bright smile. Lance smiled at his friends, stumbling slightly with stiff, cold legs.

“Where are we?” Lance asked as he quickly walked towards them. He almost wanted to just touch them to make sure they were okay, that everything was okay. “Where are Keith and Shiro?”

“All I know is that we’re in the castle of a princess from somewhere called Altea,” Hunk said. “And I still don’t trust those two. Who’s to say they still won’t go back to Zarkon?”

“I dunno,” Lance said. “But Keith did put his life on the line for us and got us out of there, so that’s worth at least something. Where are they?”

Pidge and Hunk shared a look with each other. They obviously woke up a while before Lance and his head struggled to keep up with all the thoughts he was trying to sort through. Were they really safe? Where did they wind up? How far away were they from Earth? From the Galra? And what about this Altea? Were they safe? Would they stay that way? What about the lions? Voltron?

“We don’t know,” Pidge said. “When we woke up, some guy called Coran was here. He’s Altean, too. We didn’t exactly talk a lot, but he said for us to meet him and the princess at the bridge. Keith and Shiro might be there. He said something about finding Voltron.”

“Finding it?” Lance asked with wide eyes. They were going to find Voltron? Why them? Sure, it would be amazing if they could get Voltron and if they could, and the universe definitely needed its help. But why did they have to find it? Sure, Lance, Hunk and Pidge could work alright in a team but it wasn’t like they were all great pilots. And there were five lions.

“It might be our only chance with the Galra coming after us since we kinda took their lion,” Hunk said. “But if it means piloting with Keith and Shiro…”

“We’ll do what we have to,” Lance said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “Do you guys know where the bridge is?”

“I think Coran forgot to tell us,” Pidge said and Lance couldn’t help but laugh a little. It felt good, considering the situation, but it didn’t feel quite right. They had to make sure that they were safe before he could make light of the situation.

“So, we can either wander around this castle until we maybe find people,” Lance offered, “or we wait here until someone comes to find us.” Personally, he was feeling kind of stiff and he was just itching to explore something and walk around. It would be better to get to know this castle and find any possible exits just in case. There was no telling what could happen or when the Galra would show up…or what Keith and Shiro would do during all of this.

“Let’s get moving,” Hunk said. “I don’t like just sitting around and doing nothing. Are you good to go, Pidge?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Pidge nodded. It was obvious something was on their mind and Lance could only guess. For years they thought that Shiro and the others on the team of the Kerberos Mission were dead. That the Galra had killed them, once the government decided to share things outside of ‘pilot error’. But knowing that they were actually taken, that at least Shiro was alive…well that just might mean that Pidge’s father and brother really were alive. That they were somewhere in the universe, just waiting to be found and saved and brought to safety. If there was anywhere safe left in the universe.

“Alright, let’s hope we don’t get too lost,” Lance said with a sigh, walking towards what he could guess was the door. This whole place was so weird, Lance was pretty much only guessing the whole time in this place, but he couldn’t do anything else. The door opened for him and he couldn’t help but jump slightly, but stepped through the doorway anyway. There were hallways on either side as he walked out and he just shrugged, turning to the right. There were a lot of archways and some fantastical architecture everywhere, really giving away that this place was a castle. But it seemed extremely empty. Hollow. Like it used to be so full of life and people but now it was ghostly empty.

As they walked, Hunk talk about what he knew and what he learned from the short time he was awake, the people he interacted with and what they said. About Altea and how it was apparently destroyed, but he didn’t understand much about it. Apparently Shiro and Keith might know something, but Hunk wasn’t sure. Other than that, there wasn’t a lot that Hunk knew about this place or the Lions. They just had to hope they could find the bridge soon. When Coran woke up them, he said that they still had a few hours, most likely, before the Galra came to attack, so hopefully they could find the other lions and form Voltron before then.

Before long, Lance could safely assume that they were lost, after about the fifth flight of stairs that they had found. How big was this place, anyway? And how could they seriously not find anyone? There were four people somewhere in this castle, how could they not find them? He was starting to get a little impatient. He just wanted something exciting to happen already. Then again, this was probably better than getting constantly shot at, but he was just itching to do something, anything.

Just as he was passing by a door, however, it opened and he nearly jumped out of his own skin when Keith nearly walked right into him. Everyone tensed up and it was almost painfully quiet around them. No one was really sure what to say, but Keith was the first person to turn away.

“You need to get a new shirt,” Keith said bluntly as he walked away. Lance scoffed. With everything that happened between them and all they’d been through in such a short amount of time, that was all Keith had to say to him? Obviously, Lance needed a new shirt, but that wasn’t exactly high on their list of priorities. Sure, he wasn’t exactly comfortable with just walking around shirtless all day, but he didn’t really have anything else.

“Yeah, well you need a new face,” Lance muttered under his breath and he heard Hunk snicker behind him. Keith just kept walking. If he heard anything, he didn’t show it. Lance decided just to follow him, since he actually looked like he knew where he was going. No wandering eyes or anything.

It was painfully silence once again as they walked through the hallways and soon, they came into another really huge room with two people Lance had never seen before as well as Shiro, who was standing and talking with them. It looked like they were looking over something important, considering their serious expressions and serious tones, but Lance couldn’t hear them very well yet.

Almost immediately after they walked in, everyone seemed to draw their attention right towards them and Lance couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Sure, the woman, who he could guess was Princess Allura, was incredibly gorgeous and honestly she could throw Lance into space and he would say thank you…but it was still a little awkward. The guy had a mustache that Lance couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous of, and they both had their oddly colored eyes trained right on him, making him stop in his tracks.

What else was there to do to alleviate the tension than to open his mouth and say something stupid? “I know I’m incredibly handsome, but we should really stop focusing on me and start focusing on the problem.”

“If you’re all rested, then you should go find the lions,” Allura said simply, turning back to some screens that were floating in front of her. Coran and Shiro looked back as well and Keith just stepped forward, apparently ignoring Lance’s great banter.

“I’m not sure if we should be the ones going after them,” Pidge spoke up. “I doubt we’re the kind of team you want.”

“Well, it’s less of the team we want, more like the team we need,” Coran mused, turning back towards them. “But you all managed to make it out of Zarkon’s hands together, so that has to count for something, right?”

“Uh, yeah, and is no one going to talk about the fact-”

“No,” Keith and Shiro cut him off at the same time and Lance narrowed his eyes. They knew exactly what he was about to bring up, but they shut it down. Keith and Shiro shared a look before Keith walked over to them.

“We’ll bring it up later,” Keith said in a hushed voice.

“And why not now?” Lance pressed. “Because the Galra destroyed Altea?” Keith glanced at Hunk, the only one who could have given Lance this information.

“We need them to trust us, at least for now,” Keith said.

“And what about us?” Hunk asked. “Don’t you need our trust, too?”

“Yes, but…” Keith let out a sigh. This was obviously hard on him, too. Lance wasn’t sure what was going through either of their heads, but it was obvious they wanted to be here. And they wanted to fight. That was all Lance needed to trust them. At least, until they were safe.

“I trust you,” Lance said simply. “For now. But sooner or later, secrets are gonna come out, whether you want them to, or not.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Keith said, glancing back at the others, who were still talking over coordinates or something.

“Okay,” Lance said with a small sigh, walking forward. Hunk was still stiff and it was obvious he didn’t trust either Keith or Shiro yet. But he could trust Lance’s judgement. Pidge was in a similar situation, but they were still curious. Curious about what happened over the last few years, and definitely curious about Shiro and what information he might have on their family. “So, if we’re going to find these lions, how do we do that?”

“When Zarkon attacked,” Allura said and the screen in front of her grew bigger and bigger until it seemed to take up the whole room, making the star map cover practically everything. It was a breathtaking sight, if they didn’t have other things to worry about, “my father scattered the lions around the universe so they wouldn’t be found. We’ve been able to find the coordinates of most of them…”

Five different lions appeared now, all but the yellow one with coordinates next to them. Lance couldn’t understand much, seeing as he wasn’t able to read the language most of the information was presented in, but he could more or less figure which ones were closer and which ones were further away.

“It looks like the black lion is in the same location as the red lion,” Pidge mused.

“Look at those primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage!” Coran said happily and Pidge narrowed their eyes at him. Was that an insult?

“Very observant,” Allura said. “The black lion is safe inside the castle and can only be reached with the other four lions are present.”

“So, how do we know who gets what lion?” Hunk asked curiously.

“The lions have personalities all their own and they mirror their pilots,” Allura said. She moved her hands and the black lion started moving. “The black lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times,” the lion stopped moving in front of Shiro, who’s eyes widened, “someone whose men will follow without hesitation. Shiro, you will pilot the black lion.”

“Me?” Shiro asked, his voice quiet. To Lance, it made the most sense. Shiro had the most experience out of everyone, even if some of that experience was with the Galra. Lance wasn’t exactly the best at leading a team and he needed help more often than not. But at the same time…he’d been gone for so long, no one except Keith knew what it was like in his head right now. Could he really be their leader.

Allura only nodded at him before continuing, moving the green lion this time. “The green lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring.” It stopped at Pidge and Lance couldn’t think of a single complaint on that choice. “And I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t think I know your name yet.”

“It’s Pidge.”

“Then, Pidge, you will pilot the green lion.” Next, she moved the yellow lion, moving it right towards Hunk. “The yellow lion is caring and kind. It’s pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. That is why you…” she paused, silently asking for a name.

“Hunk.”

“Hunk, will pilot the yellow lion.” Next was the blue lion. By process of elimination, Lance could guess that was him and, honestly, he could already guess the traits of that lion. “The blue lion-”

“Hold up, let me guess,” Lance said proudly. “Takes the most handsome/best pilot of the bunch?”

Allura just looked at him blankly before moving the red lion towards Keith, making Lance pout slightly. “The red lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It’s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. It’s pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone.” Well, that certainly sounded like Keith. At least the Keith Lance remembered. Then again, quite a lot had changed in five years.

“So, we don’t know where the yellow lion is?” Hunk asked curiously, looking at the picture of his lion intently.

“It seems that the castle’s deep space scanners are still warming up,” Allura said. “After ten thousand years, a lot of things in the castle might need some work. For now, we’ll have to go after the lions we know the locations of and hope we can find the last one soon. We only have a few hours before the closest Galra ship will arrive, so we’ll have to move fast.”

“So, where are the blue and green lions?” Lance asked curiously.

“The green lion is on a planet a fair distance away,” Allura mused. “And the blue lion…well…”

“It’s on Earth,” Shiro said simply, like ripping off a band-aide. Lance couldn’t help but smile at the thought of visiting Earth again, a place he’d never thought he’d get to see, especially after being captured, but the looks on Shiro and Keith’s faces…they didn’t want to go back…

“I can load a pod with the coordinates of the lions,” Coran said, moving right past the awkward silence. “And the red lion should have the coordinates for both lions automatically in it.”

“I can put up two worm holes for you to go through, so you should be able to get them quickly,” Allura said. “But I can only keep them open for two of your Earth hours. You’ll only have until then to get them back.”

There was a moment of silence as the five new pilots of Voltron looked among each other, wondering who would go where. Shiro hesitated for a moment, staring at the ground, before he closed his hands into tight grips.

“I’ll go with Pidge to find the green lion,” Shiro said simply. “Keith, you go with Lance to find his. Hunk, stay here. If you find the coordinates for the yellow lion, go get it.” His voice easily portrayed authority. These were orders and there was no going around it, no questioning it. As much as Hunk looked like he wanted to (Lance didn’t doubt that he wanted to go back to Earth just as badly as him and Pidge) he didn’t say anything, just nodding.

“Lance, we’ll get you a new shirt before you head off,” Allura offered with a small smile, trying to lighten up the situation and Lance definitely appreciated it. Her smile could really light up a room…

“That would actually be nice,” Lance said, rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

The trip to Earth in the Red Lion was awkward and quiet. It was obvious Keith didn’t want to say anything, and Lance wasn’t going to press anything. But he still hated the quiet. He was stuck standing behind Keith’s pilot seat, tapping his feet on the floor, fiddling with anything he could get his hands on. It was boring, just kind of floating through space. Eventually, the worm hole appeared in front of them and Keith didn’t hesitate to move through it. In only a matter of seconds, Earth was directly in front of them and, finally, Keith hesitated, pulling back and stopping the Red Lion right where it was.

“Uh…shouldn’t we be going closer to Earth?” Lance asked. He was itching to at least step foot back home. Sure, he probably wouldn’t have the time to see his family and that would hurt a lot, but he at least wanted to set foot on the ground. Keith hesitated, gripping hard onto the handles.

“I’m not sure if I should,” Keith muttered. “I know we have to go for the lion and Voltron, but…I didn’t know one would be on Earth, okay?”

“I would have thought going back to Earth after being gone for so long would be good for you,” Lance mused. He knew Keith didn’t want to and it was obvious Shiro didn’t want to, but part of him wanted to know why.

“There’s never been anything for me to go back to,” Keith scoffed. “Before the Kerberos Mission, all I had was Shiro, but now there’s nothing there but a…a shack. One that I didn’t even stay in for long.”

“Still, you must be feeling kind of homesick,” Lance offered. He knew he missed home so much even if he was just leaving on a mission for a few days. At this rate, there was no telling how long they would be away from home or when they could even go back to Earth. Voltron was defender of the universe after all and the universe definitely needed some defending.

“I’m a traitor,” Keith muttered darkly. “I shouldn’t even step foot on the planet that I betrayed.”

Lance took a deep breath before standing beside Keith, looking at him even though Keith avoided eye contact. “Look, I don’t know what happened in these past five years. I won’t pretend to know how you feel. But from what I can tell, you didn’t leave Earth to become a traitor and it wasn’t your fault, so stop beating yourself up about it. You’re trying to fix your mistakes and the best way to do that is by getting the lions so we can form Voltron and kick Zarkon’s ass.”

“There’s nothing I can do to atone for what I’ve done,” Keith muttered. “Shiro and I are both traitors…to Earth and the Galra. Who’s to say we won’t betray our next team?”

“I trust you,” Lance said. “And, sure, we’ll all need to sit down and have a serious talk to get everyone to trust each other. But this team isn’t like the garrison and it isn’t like the Galra. I can already tell, even without knowing everyone for a long time, I can trust these guys. Hunk might be a little hard to get through, but he just wants to make sure everyone’s safe.”

“Considering our history,” Keith said, “I don’t think anyone is really safe around me and Shiro.”

“Well, the only way to find out,” Lance said, looking back at Earth. “Is to get those lions and form Voltron, right?”

“You’re annoying when you make sense,” Keith said, but he tentatively moved his hands forward, towards Earth. They had the exact coordinates of the Blue Lion, which was somewhere in the middle of the dessert, suspiciously close to the garrison where they were trained. As long as they didn’t attract a lot of attention, they should be able to slip in and out unnoticed. But a giant red lion did tend to gather a lot of attention.

It was only a matter of minutes before they landed right in front of a cave. In front of them, Lance could see carvings etched into the walls, something that looked like a mechanical lion. Lance couldn’t help but feel a pull of some kind further into the cave and he didn’t even wait for Keith before he left the lion, all but running into the cave. He lightly touched the carvings, but he could tell that they weren’t man-made. They were too perfect, too smooth.

But the second he touched one, all of them started to glow blue and he immediately jumped, retracting his hand.

“This is weird,” Lance said as Keith joined him. Keith didn’t say anything, he just walked with Lance further into the cave. It felt like he knew where to go, or at least something was telling him where to go. Lance was about to say something to alleviate the tension and at least make everything stop being so quiet, but he was cut off when he felt the ground beneath his feat tremble and then break apart.

They both yelled out as they fell through the ground, but they landed in water, which slid them down without hitting too many big rocks. Lance almost felt like laughing near the end of it. It was almost fun. But that thought was quickly cut short when the water deposited him hard onto the ground below. He groaned as he landed and yelped when something heavy landed right on his back. There was about an inch of water below him, but that did absolutely nothing to soften the blow.

“Get your fat ass off of me,” Lance grumbled and Keith quickly stood up, brushing himself off, for all that was worth considering they were both soaking wet. Lance let out a huff as he stood up as well, but his eyes widened when he came into contact with the Blue Lion in front of him. It was surrounded by a blue force field, just like the Red Lion, but now Lance could understand what Keith was saying. It felt like the lion was staring at him, like they were already connected. “Whoa…”

“We should hurry and get out of here,” Keith said simply. “There’s no telling when the Galra will show up and we still don’t know where the Yellow Lion is.”

“Don’t rush me, man, I got this,” Lance said happily, walking towards the lion. He placed his hand on the field and almost felt like a purring in his head. It was comforting, like it was meant to be there. There was absolutely no doubt about it; this was his lion. He smiled widely, watching as the field dropped in front of him. “Way easier to get to than your lion, huh?” Lance asked with a small smirk and Keith just scoffed.

“Just get us out of here,” Keith said simply. Admittedly, it was kind of nice to just talk like this. In a cave where they didn’t exactly have to face all of their responsibilities or what they had done. They were free to bicker with each other like they used to be able to. Not like that happened a whole lot to begin with, but this was nice.

“Let’s see what this baby can do,” Lance said happily, running towards his lion as it lowered its mouth for him to enter into. Keith hesitated for a moment, but there was obviously no exit without the lion, so he stepped in as well.

Lance happily sat down in the chair and, the second his hands made contact with the levers, he felt another strong connection, like a purr, run right through his brain. It felt right, it felt good. He didn’t even wait to see if Keith was in a stable position before he took off. The lion easily broke through the layer of rock above them and he couldn’t help but laugh excitedly as they floated in the air. He could see the red lion already, but he didn’t really want to land yet. He just wanted to fly around and he could already tell that the range of motion on this lion was exponentially more than what he got in any of the ships the garrison had.

He wanted to test it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so with this chapter I am very sad to say that my inspiration for this fic has run thin. This normally doesn't happen this soon after starting but there's really nothing I can do. I don't want to drop this story, I haven't dropped one in like four years. That being said, though, I will have to put this story on indefinite hiatus until further notice. Maybe season two will inspire me, maybe writing something else will inspire me, who knows. But I won't be writing it for a while. I'm very sorry, but there's really nothing else I can do and no one want to read a story I'm forcing myself to write.  
> That being said, there's no preview for next time since I haven't written it yet but hopefully I'll see y'all in the future!

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaand welcome to my new story! I’m trying my hand at Voltron fics for a while now because I just absolutely love the show and the fandom so far. Anyway, this is an AU I put a lot of thought into and I’m pretty stoked about. The plot in general, once they get to the first lion, will probably mirror the plot of the series, just with the time skip and certain plot devices added in to change things up. I don’t know what I’ll do once I get to where the series ended, but we’ll find out when we get there. For now, take this and hopefully I’ll be able to update soon. We’ll be seeing Shiro and at least one lion next!
> 
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> “Don’t move,” Lance ordered. Keith actually stayed still for a grand total of two seconds before charging. Lance’s finger twitched over the trigger, but he didn’t pull it. He couldn’t do it. Not Keith. Not another human. Keith gripped hard onto Lance’s gun, shoving him into the wall behind him. Lance cried out at the added pain, but kept his own grip. He moved to slam his head into Keith’s and the second their heads made contact, Lance was overwhelmed with another vision. The hallways again. He had to go down the hallways. With Keith.


End file.
